Erik Finman is the 19-year-old who famously became one of the first Bitcoin millionaires. He invested in cryptocurrency when he was just 12, and he’s now maturing to consider using his money for good.
That doesn’t mean that his project can’t be spectacular or, for that matter, inspired by one of the greatest villains in the Marvel universe, Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man.
Finman is funding a project that seeks to bring a Dr. Octopus suit to the rank of medical device. This in itself isn’t news, since the suit has even made its debut at Comic-Con, the convention where all things geek and comic book-inspired take place. You can see an older video of the suit in action below.
However, it wasn’t until recently that Finman explained his reasons for investing in such a project, cool factor aside. As it turns out, the 10-year-old boy who designed the suit and who is the son of Finman’s first mentor, suffers from hypermobility issues.
In him, Finman saw a younger version of himself, he says in an interview cited by The Next Web. He saw potential and he wanted to be the one to help it come out to light. He also wanted kids to stop making fun of the boy.
“I dropped out of HS and worked on a lot of cool projects. Made some money. And I found this kid, Aristou, whose Dad is a family friend,” Finman explains. “He said it would be his dream to build a real life Dr Octopus because of his own situation. He’s an incredibly smart kid, next Albert Einstein, and I saw a kindred spirit.”
“So I wanted to help because no one helped me growing up. It’s Important to encourage this type of thinking at a young age. So I decided to use my robotics expertise, get a rag tag team of engineers together, and build a real life Dr. Octopus suit,” the millionaire teen adds.
With $3.3 million in the bank, he had the kind of money to get this project off the ground. At the time being, the suit is part cosplay and part prosthesis, but Finman hopes it will one day become an actual medical device.
Created with 3D printing, the suit includes 4 arms controlled by rear-mounted microcontrollers and 8 motors. Aristou can control the arms with the fingers of the hands, which are fitted inside specially created gloves. With the suit, he can lift heavier objects, but Finman aims for something greater than that.
To achieve it, he’s willing to outsource the project. He also says he wants to invest more in education, and this project would stand as proof of that.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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